A mother-son duo from Mokila in Rangareddy district were arrested by the Jubilee Hills police on Thursday on the charge of creating a fake profile on a matrimonial site and cheating an NRI software engineer to the tune of ₹ 65 lakh.

The accused, Malavika Devati (44), and her son Venkateswara Pranvaa Lalith Gopal Devati (22) lured the victim, Varun, a techie from California, into believing their false story after getting in touch with him on www.bharathmatrimony.com. Malavika’s husband Devati Srinivas is absconding.

According to the police, the trio created the profile in the name of Keerthi Madhavaneni, a doctor from Jubilee Hills, who was looking for prospective alliance.

“They cooked up a story that Keerthi has a lot of property in her name and her father died recently after which her mother ‘Mahalakshmi Madhavaneni’ was torturing her to transfer the property to her name. They asked Varun to send money and help her in fighting the legal battle,” the police said.

Malavika alias Keerthi also told Varun that once she won the case, he would also benefit as they would be married then. During their conversation, the accused also told the victim that she underwent a surgery and that her life was at risk.

Upon believing her words, Varun transferred ₹ 65 lakh to their bank account to help her ‘fight the legal battle by hiring an advocate’. A few weeks later, when the woman started avoiding his calls and messages, the NRI realised that he had been cheated by the woman and lodged a complaint with the police. Based on his complaint, a case was registered and the mother-son duo were arrested.

Police said the accused had been involved in similar cases registered at Nallakunta, Marredpally and Hyderabad Cybercrime police stations here.

“The family is addicted to lavish lifestyle and wanted to make a fast buck by swindling money from gullible people,” Jubilee Hills police added.